How leaders’ speeches impact social distancing behaviour

Weekend Reading

In Brazil, President Bolsonaro has publicly flaunted social distancing measures and downplayed the seriousness of the disease in at least two well-publicised instances.

This column analyses the effects of Bolsonaro’s actions and speeches in the month of March on Brazilians’ social-distancing behaviors, using electoral data and geo-localised mobile phone data from 60 million devices. The findings suggest that social distancing behavior decreased in municipalities with stronger support for Bolsonaro.